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The First Abolition Society 
in the United States : : 



By 
EDWARD RAYMOND TURNER 

Professor of History, University of Michigan 



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Reprinted from "The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and 
Biography" for January, 1^12 



Printed by 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 



i 




THE FJEST ABOLITION SOCIETY IN THE 
UNITED STATES* 

BY EDWAHD RAYMOND T0ENER 

Professor of History, University of Michigan. 

It was not merely an accident that the first aboJitinn 

ucl^^. in ib88 I'astorius and some FnVnr^Q nf r 
made ,n North America, while in 1693 the Keithian 
tCk :7"!t"^" ''"'^'^'P''"' *'^« «-* declara : n of 
tfie^nends took up the work, so that by 1776 most of 

^enezet, circulated far and wide such books as The 
Mystery of Iniqmty, All Slave-Keepers AposLes and 

uZ Z:tTl '''':■ ---^fierce o'p So^a 
times but gradually making converts. Toward the end 
of the colonial period not only the Friends but th 
Episcopalians, the Presbyterians and thpTfr T 
denouncing the system T^v T7«n ^^^^^P^^s^^^ were 
negroes mV.LIV ^ ^^ '^°'' ^^^^ ^^^^ of the 

llZ' ^'""'^^^^^^^^ ^ere free. In that year, owing 

in tst^Toi^tiZ;::; ttrf -^-^'^ 
t™e^rr\rrak:s"itr^7^o"rTrso7a "'' 



93 



f 



94 First Abolition Society in United States. 

they had no thought of ceasing their opposition. They 
had given liberty to their own slaves, but many were 
still held in bondage by other people, while from time to 
time kidnappers carried off negroes undoubtedly free. 

ALL 

SLAVE-KEEPERS 

That keep the Innocent in Bondage, 

APOSTATES 

Pretending to lay Claim to the Fure 

&Holy CliriftianReligion ;of whatCoiigregarioa 
foever; butefpecially in theirMinifters,by whofc 
cxanfple the filthy Leprofy and Apoftacy is 
fptead far and near ; it is a notorious Sin, whicK 
^many of th* true Friends ofChrift, and his pure 
Truth, called ^uakers^ has been fbr many Years, 
and ftillare concern'd to write and bear Teftimo-' 
ny againft ; as a Pra£Hce fb grofs 8c hurtful to Re- 
ligioii) and deftruftivc to Governraenr, beyond 
what Words can fet forth, or can be declared of 
by Men or Angels, and yet lived in by Miniftcrs 
and Magiflrates in jimerlca. 

^he Leaders cf the People caufe them to Err. 

Written for a General Service, by 

him that truly and fincerely dcfires the prefent 
and etern.l Welf:.re and Happinefs of all Man- 
kind, all the World over, of all Colours, and 
Nations, as his own Soul ; 

Benjamin Lay. 



"P HILJ DM L^ HI A:. 
Printed for the Author. 1737- 

Th(!n;foro men like Anthony Benezet were unwearied in 
their elTorts to persuade masters to manumit their negroes, 
to help negroes purchase their freedom, and to help them 
preserve the lib('rty thus obtained. 



PEB 2 6 1925 



I 



First Abolition Society in United States. 95 

At first this work was carried on individually or by 
committees of the Friends, but so many people in Phila- 
delphia were interested that it needed only a particular 
occurrence to cause them to organize. Such an incident 
soon arose. In 1773 an Indian woman from New Jersey 
was brought to Philadelphia by her owner, who was taking 
her south. While her master tarried in the city she 
declared that she and her children were free. Then Israel 
Pemberton and other citizens, eager to right an injustice 
of this kind, came to her assistance and sued for her 
liberty in the courts. It was two years before the matter 
was decided; but at last she was declared to be a slave. 
The case made a deep impression, however, on those who 
conducted it, and they resolved to organize so as to do 
more effective work in the future. "This," said the 
recorder of the Society, writing years afterward, "is the 
first case on the minutes of the society, and appears to 
have given rise to its formation." Such was the origin of 
the first abolition society in the United States. 

On April 14, 1775, a number of men met at the Sun 
Tavern in Philadelphia, and adopted a constitution for 
what they called "The Society for the ReHef of Free 
Negroes, unlawfully held in Bondage." John Baldwin 
was chosen president. The confusion which resulted from 
the Revolutionary War caused the Society almost imme- 
diately to fall into abeyance. In 1784, however, it was 
reorganized. In 1787 a new constitution was adopted, 
the name was changed, and Benjamin Franklin was elected 
president. Two years later the State legislature granted 
it a charter of incorporation. Thereafter the work was 
continuous until the need for such work passed away. 
Most of its supporters were the Friends who had been so 
active against slavery in the earlier days: "A majoritj^ 
of its members always belonged to that denomination," 
^ays the first historian. The official title of the organiza- 
tion was "The Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the 
/ Abolition of Slavery, for the Relief of Free Negroes 



96 First Abolition Society in United States. 

Unlawfully Held in Bondage, and for Improving the 
Condition of the African Race." 

Early abolitionism, that is real abolitionism, has been 
much misunderstood. In after daj's when William Lloyd 
Garrison and his associates were arousing popular wrath 
and indignation, they were called abolitionists. They 
themselves would have said that they were members of 
anti-slavery societies or new abolitionists, and generally 
not supporters of the abolition societies whose quiet 
methods they despised. Yet in popular usage the old 
name was applied to the reformers with a new meaning, 
and in the bitterness and strife of the period from 1830 
to 1860 "abolition" and "abolitionist" became oppro- 
brious terms. And so entirely was the meaning changed 
that the character and work of the real abolition societies 
is now forgotten or misunderstood. The members of the 
Pennsylvania Society were all of them quiet, orderly, 
law-abiding men; their work was efficient and helpful. 

The Society had been organized primarily to further 
the abolition of slavery, but in Pennsylvania that work 
had already progressed so far that the widest opportunity 
lay rather in assisting free negroes and helping them to 
retain their freedom. 

This was the abolitionist activity which has most 
completely fallen into oblivion, but which most deserves 
to be remembered. It was the most successful and the 
most remarkable work of the Society, but because it was 
quiet and inconspicuous it is not often called to mind 
now. It is probably true that the greater part of the 
progress made by the negroes of Pennsylvania after they 
became free, was owing directly or indirectly to the 
assistance of the Society and its sympathizers. 

Help was given in many different ways. Sometimes 
the Society paid a master to give liberty to his slave. 
Sometimes the master was assured that he would not i? 
held chargeable, as the law ordained, in case the negrc? 
manumitted failed to support himself. Then when the 



e. 

VJ 

he^ 



First Aholition Society in United States. 



97 



negro was free the Society took him into care, helped hini 
to find employment, furnished him with letters of recom- 
mendation, and saw that his employer did not take advan- 
tage of him. In 1789 the Society appointed four com- 
mittees to assist negroes in solving the social and economic 
problems which confronted them. It opened schools to 
teach children and night schools for adults practically 
the first and certainly the best schools which these negroes 
ever had. As the rising prejudice against negroes, which 
increased so strikingly after 1800, became more and more 
apparent, the abolitionists did their utmost to appease 
the white people, and teach the blacks to behave in such 
a manner as to win respect. When the authorities threat- 
ened to pass discriminatory legislation, they opposed it 
earnestly and successfully. In 1801 the State Senate 
proposed to emancipate the remaining slaves in the 
Commonwealth, and pay the masters by levying a special 
tax upon the negroes who were free. At once the Society 
made a vigorous protest. Why tax those least able to 
pay*^ In carrying on all this work the members collected 
information and statistics which are the best the historian 
is now able to obtain. 

In many respects free negroes were pecuharly liable to 
injustice and oppression at this time. Often they were 
seized by speculators who declared that they were fugitive 
slaves, and who, with the connivance of corrupt magis- 
trates, sold them into bondage again. Probably the best 
known negro in Philadelphia was Bishop Allen; yet a 
Southern trader had him arrested, and swore that he had 
recently purchased him as a slave. So many people 
hastened to testify that they had known the colored 
preacher for more than twenty years, that the perjurer 
got a sentence in jail. In other cases, however, it was the 
nesro who suffered. Furthermore kidnappers considered 
Pennsylvania an excellent field after 1780. Not infre- 
quently the victim was clubbed into submission, hurried 
across the State line, and never heard of again. 



98 First Abolition Society in United Slates. 




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First Ahotitio7i Society in United States. 99 

The organization of the Society in the first place had 
been owing to a desire to combat such practices, and the 
warfare waged against them was relentless and unceasing. 
"To prevent the disgraceful & inhuman practice of kid- 
napping (which it appears from several attempts lately 
detected, is carried to a considerable extent), we have 
committees under appointment who we believe maintain 
a due attention to their duties," says the old record. 
In 1820 and in 1847 severe laws were passed by the State 
legislature, largely owing to the efforts of the abohtion- 
ists. Meanwhile the Society saw to it that these laws 
were enforced. The penalties were exceedingly heavy, 
the maximum being a fine of $2,000 and imprisonment for 
twenty-one years. One offender, who had stolen two 
negroes, was actually fined $4,000 and sent to the peni- 
tentiary for forty-two years. On another occasion a cul- 
prit, who had been convicted largely through the efforts 
of the Society, sent most appealing letters beseeching its 
intercession. These letters are all copied in the folio 
records, but seem to have brought no mercy. It may be 
said that kidnapping in Pennsylvania was brought to an 
end because the abolitionists made it too dangerous. 

After all the principal object was the abolition of slav- 
ery, but in furtherance of this object the abolitionists car- 
ried on the least successful part of their work. In Pennsyl- 
vania they continued the efforts which they had made 
to bring slavery to an end, for the act of 1780 abolished 
slavery for the future, and did not deprive masters of 
the negroes whom they already owned. In other words 
the act provided for gradual abolition, and the operation 
in some cases was very gradual indeed, there being a slave 
in the State, it is said, as late as 1860. For the most 
part, however, as time went on these slaves were set free 
by manumission. This also was largely the result of the 
persuasion and assistance of the abohtionists and Friends, 
who took up collections, helped negroes to save money, 
loaned them money, and made terms with the masters. 



100 First Abolition Society in United States. 

Meanwhile they struck at the root of the matter and 
tried to get slavery abolished outright. First they 
attacked it in the courts. The State constitution of 1790 
declared that all men were born equally free and inde- 
pendent. In Massachusetts, where a similar expression 
had been used, the supreme court, deciding a test case. 
asserted that the existence of slavery was inconsistent 
with such a statement. About 1794 the abolitionists 
resolved to ascertain "Whether slavery, under any modi- 
lication whatever, is not inconsistent with the present 
Constitution of this State." Therefore in the year fol- 
lowing a master, Joseph Graisberry, was sued on a writ 
de homine replegiando because he was in possession of a 
negress. Flora. The case, which was instituted in the 
supreme court, was delayed for various reasons until at 
last it was sent up to the High Court of Errors and Appeals, 
the ultimate judicial authority in the State. After long 
arguments, in which Jared IngersoU, William Rawle,* and 
William Lewis urged for the negress pleas which we do 
not know, it was decided in 1802 that slavery might legally 
exist in Pennsylvania despite the lofty assertion con- 
tained in the bill of rights. 

Then the Society tried to get the legislature to pass a 
law bringing slavery to an end. Year after year its mem- 
bers sent memorials to the State capital. In 1804, when 
the Senate was considering a bill, the Society made a 
stirring appeal. "AVe respectfully and earnestly solicit,'" 
ran the petition, "that the present opportunity may not 
be permitted to escape for wiping away the opprobrium 
which has so justly attached to our State on account of 
the manifest difference between the noble Charter of 
Liberty contained in our excellent Constitution, and a 
practice so pregnant with evil, and so directly in oppo- 
sition to all our boasted professions." Many other people 
took up the cry at one time or another, and occasionally 
it seemed that the legislature might do something. In 
the end, however, it was seen that such a bill had no 



First Abolition Society in United States. 101 

chance of passing, and that slavery in Pennsylvania would 
be left to disappear by the gradual operation of the law 
already in force. 

In its desire to destroy slavery the Society did not 
confine its efforts to Pennsylvania, but began to urge 
abolition elsewhere as well. On February 11, 1790, the 
United States Congress received a petition from the 
Quakers of Pennsylvania and also one from the Quakers 
of New York, praying for the abolition of the slave-trade. 
At once there began a heated debate which became the 
more vehement when on the next day was read a memorial 
from the Pennsylvania Society signed by its president, 
Benjamin Franklin. "From a persuasion that equal 
liberty was originally the portion, and is still the birth- 
right of all men; and influenced by the strong ties of 
humanity, and the principles of their institution, your 
memorialists conceive themselves bound to use all justi- 
fiable endeavors to loosen the bands of slavery, and pro- 
mote a general enjoyment of the blessings of freedom. 
Under these impressions, they earnestly entreat your 
serious attention to the subject of slavery; that you will 
be pleased to countenance the restoration of liberty to 
those unhappy men, who alone, in this land of freedom, 
are degraded into perpetual bondage, and who, amidst 
the general joy of surrounding freemen, are groaning in 
servile subjection; that you will devise means for remov- 
ing this inconsistency from the character of the American 
people; that you will promote mercy and justice towards 
this distressed race, and that you will step to the very 
verge of the power vested in you for discouraging every 
species of traffic in the persons of our fellow-men." This 
was the first petition which the Federal government 
received asking it to take measures against slavery. 

The slave-trade, which was mentioned in this memorial, 
had likewise engaged the attention of the abolitionists. 
Importation of slaves into Pennsylvania was made im- 
possible by the act of 1780, but not a few Pennsylvanians 



102 First Abolition Society in United States. 

continued to fit out ships for the African trade, some of 
which brought negroes to Philadelphia, whence they were 
taken to other places. The earnest petitions of the 
Society induced the legislature to pass a law in 1788, 
which imposed a penalty of £1,000 upon anyone who 
engaged in the business; but even as late as 1796 a Ger- 
man traveller wrote, "Great ships loaded with slaves 
frequently come over from Africa, j)articularly to Phila- 
delphia." To put a stop to this traffic, whether carried 
on from Philadelphia or from other places, the abolition- 
ists did their utmost. In 1789 the Pennsylvania Society 
(;irculated far and wide a broadside reproducing from 
Matthew Carey's American Museum a dreadful picture 
showing negroes packed together under the deck of a 
slave-ship, and describing in vivid language their suffer- 
ings during the passage. After 1808 the Society was 
diligent in investigating violations of the law forbidding 
the slave-trade. In 1812 it sent a secret agent to New 
York and to Rhode Island to report upon the alleged 
activity of slavers there. 

The Society opposed the extension of slavery into new 
territory as it was ac<iuired by the Federal government, 
but accomplished nothing. It also took an active part 
in urging tlie abolition of slavery and the slave-trade in 
the District of Columbia. In this it had the sympathy 
of great numbers of the pcoj)le of the State who were not 
abolitionists. In 1827 Pennsylvania instructed her sena- 
tors to do everything in tlu-ir power to end slavery in the 
District, while two years later one of her representatives 
made a long speech on the subject in Congress. "The 
existence of slavery in the District of Columbia," said 
the State .M'nate in IS.'il , " is a foul stain upon our national 
character, ami a deep injury to our best interests." 

Abolitionist activity in many other places was fostered 
and encouraged by the Pennsylvania Society. After the 
Revolutionary War numerous similar organizations were 
formtMl, Koiiie of them directly as a risult of its efforts. 



First Abolition Society m United States. 103 

In 1792 it brought about the establishment of an aboU- 
tion society in New Jefsey, and a few years later, when the 
Wilmington Society was on the point of dissolving, a 
committee was sent from Philadelphia to give encourage- 
ment and promise assistance in order that the good work 
might be continued. With all the abolition societies the 
Pennsylvania organization carried on constant corre- 
spondence, and was generally regarded as parent and 
adviser. In 1794, when it was thought well to hold an 
abolition convention, the delegates met in Philadelphia. 
The position of leadership held by the Pennsylvania 
Abolition Society may be understood from the fact that 
in the years from 1794 to 1829 twenty out of twenty- 
four conventions were held in Philadelphia. 

After 1810 the Society had in view two great objects: 
assisting free negroes in Pennsylvania, and urging the 
abolition of slavery outside of the State. The first at- 
tracted little attention and aroused no opposition; the 
second also was of such a character as to awaken no great 
hostility, since the methods employed were altogether 
those of argument and persuasion. The circulation of 
broadsides and pamphlets went on without ceasing. In 
1787 Clarkson's Essay on the Commerce and Slavery of the 
Africans had been sent to all the governors of the States. 
In 1825 the Society resolved to collect and circulate in 
the slave States information showing the impolicy of 
slavery and the advantages of emancipation. There was 
some protest and some indignation in the South, but the 
literature was designed to convince the masters and not 
to arouse the slaves. When Benjamin Lundy's paper, 
The Genius of Universal Emancipation, was struggling for 
existence, the Society helped him by paying for ten sub- 
scriptions in advance, and lending him fifty dollars. 

A somewhat more aggressive attitude was taken in the 
matter of boycotting the products of slave labor. In 
1797 the abolition convention at Philadelphia declared 
that it did not believe that "it would be an effort alto- 



f liberty wei-o ''*= '»''"*^'' 
,ethe.- ineffectual in favor of Uber ■ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^.^ .^ 

throughout the In.tecl « f-.'-^^^^^^^^.e of all such 
practicable, to .l.spla> "« elure or manufacture of 
'eon>mo,r.ties as arc of the u ^^ manufactured 

freemen, to those -'l'-'' "/"^ ™ ^ Pennsylvania Soctcty 
by slaves." Some years later ^^^^ „,.,,. ^he 

offered to purchase at an ad. ncoo P^^^^^^ ^^ 

market price, the first lu ho ^^^^^^^ ^^ j,,,,. 

raised in the ^"-'\''\^'ZuZn of the work which was 
.lelphia. This was the oun aUo ^^^ p,,^, p,„auee 

artcrwards carried on "' }"\ 

and Requited Labor ^«f '"^^^ ;„ „eral that it was 
,)f all this work .t may ''<= ^^ ' /^ i^t. In Penn- 
„a„.taking and 'J-^ta: f f-pocts. It had much 
.vlvania it succeeded m "«» ^> f ^j^vcry, it stopped 

to do with proeurms 1> f "^''"\,„„ght kidnapping to 
0.C slave-trade at T'" ^'j^^' ' "; 'efassistance as bene- 
an en<l, and it gave to f.ec neg, gut m 

ficial as has ever boon ^ven *- ^,.[^„, .,,, ^et with 
the larger task outs.de ^^^^''^ Federal government 
no success. They could not get t ^^^^.^ ^^^^^^^ 

to abolish slavery tn the ^^l^^^^,,, „ot heeded. 
U, Florida or Missouri. ^ ^' ^f ' ^j^.y .ouUl not get 
„,cir broadsides were "»* 'j^^, „or Southern masters 
Southern h^gislaturcs o - ^^^\^; ^.^^ i„ereasing and 
to ,„anumit them. ' '' ^^t .hole comttry. By 1830 
threatening to sprca.l Jcro.. _ ,^^^j ^^^^^ 

'"•■« »r '■"■''thetnr t .uHhods of the aboUtion- 
(or a change. l'«= •^°"''' ..,,.. Therefore the younger, 
i,t, sccnt-d to have Iven f. u.t c s. ^j^^^,^ 

,he bolder, the •"-<■■"' Tom^osd at all cost. This 
,, attacked violently and ^^^^^ ^^, p,,,aUed 

feeling ---^^.'^""■"iVls famous exponent being 
■'" '"■"'/, IG r« The result was the anti-slavery 
W.U.am Lloyd G"'""' ; ^,,,„ ,,,,i„cl the abohtiot 

TrS; rnd'X: nrLd immcliate ahohtion fiercely 



First Abolition Society in United States. 105 

but who seem to have despaired of obtaining such aboli- 
tion, and therefore resolved to fight with all their strength 
against the slave power. 

In 1833 Edwin P. Atlee, one of the leading members 
of the Society, wrote a pamphlet in which he demanded 
"total abolition. Not gradual, but immediate." The 
constitution of the United States, he said, was an iniquity, 
since it supported slavery. In the year following the 
Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society was founded. Its 
members were determined that no more slave States 
should be admitted. State and local organizations of the 
same character now sprang up everywhere, and the 
country was overwhelmed by a torrent of incendiary 
utterances. "We believe that slavery is contrar}^ to the 
precepts of Christianity, dangerous to the liberties of the 
country, and oiight immediately to be abolished," said the 
constitution of the Young Men's Anti-Slavery Society of 
Philadelphia. Slavery in the United States was worse 
than any cruelty of the Spanish inquisition, said the 
Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society. It was a violation 
of the law of God and of the constitution, said another 
association. More alarming still were the reckless utter- 
ances about disunion. In a pamphlet published in 1840 
the author said, "It is the duty of Pennsylvania and of 
the South, to do to others as they would that others 
should do to them. It is their duty to let other States 
secede from the Union, much as they may regret it, if 
the only means of preventing it is to assist in inflicting 
a wrong upon others, which they would not undergo 
themselves for the sake of any political union that ever 
existed." "We ought instantly to grant to all men the 
enjoyment of their inalienable rights." 

The result was that the anti-slavery movement aroused 
a storm of opposition such as the old abolitionist propa- 
ganda had never encountered. All over the State the 
newspapers overwhelmed the agitators with opprobrium 
and abuse. Garrison was commended to a lunatic asylum. 



106 First AhoUtion Society in United States. 

Speaker, were driven away and lecturers w'ere forbidden 
to appear. In 1838 Pennsylvania Hall, where meeting. 
were being held, was burned by a mob, and a fierce riot 
followed. When appeal was made to ^l^e legislature for 
prolcction, little comfort was given. It advised the ant - 
slavery advocates to let it be "their duty to abstain f om 
the propagation of opinions and sentiments mimical to 
the peace of the country, and to the integrity of the union, 
and from holding public meetings which, from their 
obnoxious diaracter have a direct tendency to produce 
disorder, violations of the peace and riots, and such com- 
plaints as are contained in the petitions now under 
consideration, will soon cease to be made." 

In all this agitation the older abolitionist orgamzation 
look .mall part. Most of the Quakers, who made up the 
larger part of its membership, believed in persuading 
and convincing, not in threatening and coercing. If then- 
progress was slow, they would wait. They would not 
violate either law or constitution. They believed that 
violence would bring about reaction, that unseemly denun- 
ciation of the South would make abolition more difficult. 
an.l the lot of the free negro worse. In 1834 WiUiam 
Uawle, president of the Pennsylvania Society, explained 
the views of the abolitionists. 

"The objects of this association were temperate, legit- 
imate antl correct— they were substantially confined to 
the limits of our own state— much individual good w^as 
done coloured people sufTering by reason of fraud or 
tm'riwful violence were relieveil— the pursuits of them 
.•rsona falsely claiming rights to their servic 
wtir ju.lieiously repelled— their youth were cducateci 
their indu.slry aj^sisled -in sickness they were aide.; 
— and in the hour of death they were solaced an. 
KUpp"rle«l. 

" In all ihiH no ofTen.M- was given to the citizens of othe; 
Htatcs. Their boumlaries were respected and their lawi 
and rnnKtitntionH not attempted to be violated. A belie 



First Abolition Society in United States. 107 

was entertained that an abhorrence of slavery would 
gradually work its way, and that it was the duty of the 
society patiently to wait the event." 

"The conduct and proceedings," he said, "of the gen- 
eral anti-slavery society have not met with my entire 
approbation. The members appear to me to be actuated 
by a Wind and injudicious zeal, productive of measures 
the effect of which will be to awaken alarm, create a 
determined opposition among the slave holders, and delay 
the progress of conscientious emancipation. 

"That day — the day of general emancipation — will, I 
trust and believe, hereafter arrive. But I fear it will be 
delayed by the institution of societies so warm, and so 
imprudent." 

And yet by a curious fate, although many of the aboh- 
tionists opposed the violence of the anti-slavery move- 
ment and expressed their disapproval of it, their name 
was given to the anti-slavery advocates, and became a 
term of loathing and contempt. Atlee and his associates 
might found an anti-slavery society, but not only because 
they desired to abolish slavery but because some of them had 
been members of the abohtionist organization, and some of 
them continued to be, the press and the mob both termed 
them abolitionists. Soon the word came to signify an unde- 
sirable fanatic, and was one of the most insulting epithets 
that could be applied. In 1838 the bitterest opponents of 
Governor Ritner dehghted to call him" abolitionist." 

As time went on popular indignation subsided, and 
great numbers of people were won over to the new and 
aggressive pohcy. Indeed after a while not a few of the 
conservative abolitionists and Friends came to believe 
that aggressive methods were the right ones. This was 
the cause of much debate and bitterness, and had as one 
of its results the formation, in 1853, of the Society of 
Progressive Friends. After that time there were none 
who demanded abolition and denounced slave-holding 
more vehemently. 



108 First Abolition Society in United States. 

In some respects, then, the venerable abolition society 
„t Pennsylvania .night s-m to '.ave — ^^^^^^ if,^,^ 

So . ty" re much reduced. In 1842 it was necessary to 
apSt a ''Resuscitating Committee" to revive interest 

ruled sLlfasti; on its way, seeking to do^efu wo^. 
,„1 a./.n^ a great deal of good. In the face o over 
:'i;elm:gN>reWdiee it ^^evoted itself to the humbeta^^^^^ 
of assisting the negro and helping him to feel that there 
were ome who believed in his capacity to improve and 
bright to make progress. The members opposed the 
C:iont.ation Society because they believed that it was 
trying to get rid of negroes as undesirable people. In 
IVnnsylvania the abolitionists did their utmost to dis- 
suade the legislature from passing ^^i^^^^'^^^^^^^^^^; !^,^^ 
,„,.! aeburring black men from the suffrage. They did 
all that they could to prove to the community that 
colored people were not by instinct worthless and vicious. 
but would Ik- industrious and law-abiding if given a fair 
chance. It is not too much to say that at this period the 
Quakers and the abolitionists were substantially the only] 
friends whom the negro had in the State. 

To slavery the abolitionists continued their opposition 
but all of the more striking work, the work which arouscjl 
the ho.>*tilitv of the South, was carried on by the anti 
Blavery agi'tatorn. Krom time to time the abolitionist: 
petitioned the legislature to put an end to slavery ii 
IVnnsylvania, but there was such a little remnant of i 
left, tlm' 'h.ir niriiiur'ials gained no re.spouse. In 1847 



.: 



First Abolition Society in United States. 109 

however, something was achieved when masters travelhng 
from the South, were forbidden to take their slaves 
through Pennsylvania. 

Perhaps their most aggressive work in the period after 
1840 was done along with the members of the anti-slavery 
societies in behalf of fugitive slaves. This question had 
always been a matter of concern to the Society, since its 
members believed that alleged runaways did not get a 
fair trial, and so free negroes might easily be carried off. 
For this reason they opposed the first fugitive slave law 
of 1793. Then it was felt that runaways should have trial 
by jury, so the abolitionists sent vast numbers of petitions 
to the State authorities asking that this be granted. After 
the passage of the fugitive slave law of 1850 they joined 
with the anti-slavery advocates in demanding a personal 
liberty law which would prevent the return of fugitives 
under any circumstances. 

Finally during the dark days of the Civil War, when 
there was less room for abolitionist agitation, the Society 
continued its old work of assisting negroes, particularly 
negroes from the South who could get no work. During 
this time they raised money for the maintenance of orphan 
colored children, and undertook to find places for them. 
In Philadelphia they took up once more the cause of the 
despised colored people, and tried hard to have them 
allowed to ride in the street cars. 

But when the Civil War was at last over, and slavery 
, was abolished, the days of the Society drew to a close. 
The names of its founders were only a memory. Its 
great leaders such as Caspar Wistar and William Rawle 
had died when the larger work of the abolitionists seemed 
a failure. Now suddenly by a prodigious cataclysm, which 
even the anti-slavery men could not foresee, the whole 
system of African bondage was swept away, and there 
was no longer any need for abolitionist work. The dwind- 
ling records of the Society, once so full, come to an end in 
In 1876 the celebration of the hundredth anni- 



nu FU,I Abolition Society in United States. 

versary of its foundation was really to commemorate 

something that had passed away. . „t th^ aholi- 

Such was the work of the first and greatest of the abol. 

don societies The gathering of a handful of brave and 
vn,pathcm.„ in the old Sun Tavern had produced a 

milv organization which had lasted almost a century. 

Without injustice, without repining, without recnm.na- 
o„ it carrie.1 on its work in the face of mcrcd.ble d.ffi- 
ul"; and discouragement. If its work was effiocnt and 

c^nUnuous, its policy was calm and wise. It never tnod 
by force or by revolution to destroy slavery, but by per- 
suasion and enlightenment it sought to brmg .t to an 
end Nor was it merely destructive. It devoted most of 
iU cncrev to the thankless and unrewarded task of assist- 
ing the negroes set tree. That which should always be 
,„ost remembered about the abolitionists, who too fre- 
quently are thought of as wanton disturbers of the peace 
of the ol.l Union, is that they brought about the large 
part of what has been done to improve the negroes who 
live in the North. 



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